Memoirs 424 - Pulling back the tape
Added 2026-01-02 00:48:57 +0000 UTCComments
Bro what are you talking about? This world was known to Amy as a game, and Skye has been playing the part that the hero would in the game this whole time. It's been talked about ever since the princess disappeared. But the story isn't shifting to follow Skye. This is still Scarlett's story, and Scarlett is still developing as a person. Not being able to be honest with Skye is really showing how important being honest with other people is. Having Skye here also helps Scarlett figure out who she is and who she wants to be, what mix of Amy vs Scarlett, and it gives Rosa so much material to tease Scarlett with, which is clearly the most important part.
Cellinia
2026-02-22 22:34:49 +0000 UTCThank you for the chapter. I really like the interaction between the two sisters from differnt dimensions - and the appearance of Empress always adds a nice touch of the mysterious...
Mark
2026-01-05 06:34:35 +0000 UTCZoinks! Skye is Scrappy Doo for this story and a big part of why I decided to unsubscribe this month. She is extremely obnoxious, not endearing; and, at least for me, the story's pivot to focusing on her has completely thrown off everything that was enjoyable about this serial before. Somehow this is now a slapstick comedy about an entitled, clueless, sheltered, antisocial family member retconned into the story. Scarlett is under an injunction to avoid saying or doing anything to disabuse her sister, and reinforced that she is a "villain" to her sister's "hero", which means that character growth for our jammed-in heroine Skye is going to be slow-going if it happens at all. Scarlett was cagey before and often kept her reasons to herself, but was not usually dishonest or dissembling, so this System Quest is forcing a regressive character shift (very arbitrarily) after her main arc was to become more comfortable opening up around people. Now she's designated herself the quest-giver NPC which means we are going to be focused even more on the heroic antics of Skye going forward, phasing out the cast of side-characters around Scarlett whom the readers have gotten to appreciate over more than a year, and supplanting them with much less interesting new faces. This is so far beyond jumping the shark, since at least then you had characters staying mostly true to themselves. This is now just going to be a story following a different cast through an arbitrarily constructed new plotline, set up in quest-of-the-week modules, allowing this story to milk Patreon longer without having to resolve any of the original plot threads. This isn't a mini-arc like we had with the magic training montage or the various dungeon dives, where we see the original cast grow as people as well as "numbers go up" LitRPG vibes. This is full dissociation from the original story. I don't doubt that some tieback was thought out under broader storyboarding, but for the reader, it's just decentering everything we've spent years invested in favor of a laugh-track for Skye's guest season. Or seasons. Or years. The other thing that rankles about this setup is how easily each of the "Scarlet has given a new quest to the newer, dopey, tsundare" mini-stories can be automated by AI and how similar an endless parade of fight scenes will feel to every other LitRPG on Royal Road. This has completely eroded my interest and I've canceled my subscription. I anticipate others drifting off too, sorry. This story has been a very appreciated part of my morning ritual for a long time. But it wasn't a story about a heroine with a Leeroy Jenkins-level of self-awareness yelling "Puppy Power!" or "Lemme at 'em!" before charging into unnecessary battle after unnecessary battle.
.m
2026-01-02 14:57:53 +0000 UTCTY for the chap
Demerval Augusto da Cunha
2026-01-02 04:30:09 +0000 UTCLooks to me like Princess Regina is sort of acting as a "big sister" to Skye to keep her under control. Or at least educating her. And now we throw Empress into the mix? Scarlett's going to have .... fun..... here in a few minutes with this group at breakfast. Also, Empress using the Loci to get her milk is just funny / adorable. Just wait until Rosa shows up!
Vance
2026-01-02 03:42:26 +0000 UTCTyfc!
Shatteredneon
2026-01-02 01:20:26 +0000 UTCSkye nearly died there, insulting the mighty empress of mortalkind.
Gwalmeich
2026-01-02 01:11:54 +0000 UTCwe love empress, also happy new year
weary sleepy tired
2026-01-02 01:07:32 +0000 UTCTftc!
doode89
2026-01-02 01:05:10 +0000 UTC
